Change

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s taken such a long time for me to write my last entry. My life has been quite chaotic since I have been back. Also, I have gotten sick so in between work and seeing family, I have just been sleeping.
I have been home for over a week now and let me say its been weird. Reverse culture shock is interesting to say the least. The most overwhelming place I have been was the grocery store. Really? Do people need that much variation in types and brands of toilet paper? Before studying abroad, I loved the grocery store! I would walk through every aisle making sure I didn’t miss anything and now I make a straight-line for my food and leave. I think my view on shopping has been changed from Italy. The huge stores seem obnoxious compared to the little mom and pop stores of Italy.
It has also been difficult remerging into American pop culture. When people start talking about movies or songs, I realize that I don’t know the popular media anymore. While in Italy and abroad I never watched tv, went to movies or downloaded new music. For me that was a strange concept, since I am a movie buff. I am super happy to be back with my movies and pop culture.
Language. I can understand everything now! While in the doctors office I was thinking back on my semester and I realized that trying to explain being sick was an interesting experience. I only had to go to the nurse once while abroad, but none of the CIMBA coordinators were available so they gave me a note saying my symptoms. When I saw the nurse she kept speaking to me in Italian and then randomly feeling my stomach and I was confused. So I am glad that I had an English version of the doctors office. It is funny though because I feel like I am never going to say yes again, instead it will always be si. That was probably the one word that I said the most in Italy because I understood it completely. ☺ It really has been exhausting living in another country without speaking the language for three months. I wouldn’t trade it for anything but my mind is exhausted.
The main question that people ask me is, “How was your trip?” It has been the hardest question to answer because it is so broad. It is like asking a person what are all of your thoughts, feelings, goals, dreams and friends like in the past three months? It is impossible to answer properly. So I end up saying, “It was the best experience of my life and I wouldn’t change anything for it. I made some great friends, traveled and had an adventure. But most of all I found me.” Everyone always ends up asking about the last sentence and I reply, “Do you know yourself? How hard is that to explain to someone else? I am happy and living my life and that is myself right now.” Every single CIMBA student had a different experience but none of us will ever be the same as before. It makes me think of a quote by Steven Foster.

You may wonder, ‘How can I leave it all behind if I am just coming back to it? How can I make a new beginning if I simply return to the old?’ The answer lies in the return. You will not come back to the ’same old thing.’ What you return to has changed because you have changed. Your perceptions will be altered. You will not incorporate into the same body, status, or world you left behind. The river has been flowing while you were gone. Now it does not look like the same river.

All of us are going to have troubles in our life but through studying abroad I believe we have an advantage over others who haven’t, because we see the world differently. We have changed drastically and it might take some time to reconnect with our home friends but we have to understand that everything has changed not only us. For those of you wondering about studying abroad or travelling, Please do it! You owe yourself the adventure.